San Jose man avoids life sentence in hit-and-run

SAN JOSE, Calif. 
A San Jose man charged with hit-and-run and other charges after running down a 12-year-old girl with a stolen car has been spared from a possible life sentence.

After a non-jury trial, a Santa Clara County judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Bachmann was guilty of felony hit-and-run after hitting the girl while she was crossing a street in October of 2007.

Saying Bachmann intended to kidnap and molest the girl after the incident, prosecutors had also charged him with assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping for sexual purposes and forcibly committing a lewd act on a child.

But the judge found Bachmann not guilty of the additional charges.

The 28-year-old Bachmann had been facing 35 years to life in prison if he had been convicted on all charges.

Instead, he will likely be ordered to prison for seven years, eight months when he's sentenced in February.